This February, the ice and chill have me dreaming of spring. I have buried my desk beneath a foot high stack of seed catalog and scribbled garden plans on sticky notes. I can officially say that plant fever has set in. In this unique month, when Valentine's Day coincides with Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent, I cannot think of a more apropos time to highlight one of the earliest harbinge...

Many plants enter our homes for the holidays as we deck the halls with holly boughs and adorn an evergreen tree. Perhaps one of the most interesting botanical holiday traditions, though, is kissing under the mistletoe.
Mistletoe has long been a part of human folklore and tradition. In Europe, the Druids and other ancient peoples believed that mistletoe possessed supernatural powers beca...

Happy Halloween everyone!
Today's blog tells the story of why we carve pumpkins at Halloween.
This tradition stems from an Irish myth about a man named Stingy Jack. In the legend, Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. True to his name, Stingy Jack didn't want to pay for the drinks at the end of the night. So Jack convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin...

The joy and festivity of autumn holds a special place in my heart. Judging by the decorative displays on front porches everywhere I go, and the flood of seasonal social media hashtags [#fallfavorites #pumpkinspice #pumpkintime], I believe that I am not alone.
The central player in all things fall is the pumpkin, so to celebrate the spirit of the season, today's blog post will focus on s...

One morning in mid-July I found a surprise in my herb garden. My lovely borage ( see my post on borage ) had been turned into lunch by some hungry lepidopteran larvae (caterpillars). The leaves looked like crochet, and clumps of webbing and frass (caterpillar excrement) perched in the tops of several stalks.
While ma...

Giant, bright blue eyes in a child have the power to strike me still. The astounding, azure blue star of a borage flower catch me and hold me fast. Few flowers produce such a remarkable and moving color as that of the clear-sky blue borage blossom.
Borage is an herb unknown to many. It is an annual, growing 2-3 feet tall with a basal rosette architecture. The leaves are rough and covere...

Ornamental chile peppers may provide just the kick you're looking for to spice up your landscape. Breeders at the New Mexico State University Chile Pepper Institute have paired the vibrant and variable colors available in chile peppers with a compact growth habit and upward-facing fruits. The result? A whole suite of ornamental chile pepper cultivars....